Rotosketch is quite simply an intuitive tool for sketching, doodling and notating on top of video, such that the marks that are made are linked in time with the video. This allows the user to draw strokes along the the axis of time, as well as the normal x and y axes, and for those strokes to augment, analyze, interpret, or even obliterate a video sequence.
The software was created together with Scott de la Hunta, and Susan Rethorst out of a research fellowship at Dance Theatre Workshop in which we examined how technology might be used to facilitate the dance making process in a creative, stimulating and organic manner.
We were constantly asking ourselves, what would the "photoshop" for dance look like?
As part of the working process, we examined Susan's style of choreographic research, in which drawing was an essential component. As she unpacked pile after pile of drawn-upon notecards, each of which described a movement phrase, and those cards spread across the tabletop, it struck all three of us how a drawing program based on motion might become a useful tool for analyzing and interpreting choreographic phrases.
We began to envision a suite of small tools, as opposed to a monolithic "photoshop," all designed to stimulate the creative practice. Rotosketch is one of those tools.
Some videos which demonstrate video / drawing combination created via rotosketch. Please use the latest quicktime player
We invite you to try the application out yourself - you can download the windows .exe at the bottom of this page
We invite you to try the application out yourself - you can download the windows .exe at the bottom of this page
* please note that this version of rotosketch (v. 0.23) is alpha, and we are still testing it and making improvements. I'm sure it's fine, but if you use it, you are using it at your own risk.
.. this particular version is for windows (2000, xp) but it's been built with wxwindows to be easily ported to mac, please stay tuned for the mac version
Movie Panel
To use rotosketch you will need a movie (.mov, .mp4, or .avi), typically anywhere from 5 seconds to 2 minutes is a reasonably good length to start with. You begin by importing the video via the "load new movie" button.
You can control the speed that the video is playing (from -5x to 5x the normal speed). Three buttons allow you to set the speed to -1x, 0x, and 1x, respectively. Additionally, there is a playhead scrubber, so that you can scrub through the video clip. Finally, you can adjust the transparency of the video, in order to see more or less of the drawings you have made.
Drawing Panel
On the drawing panel, you can choose two properties to manipulate, the thickness of the line you are drawing and the duration that the line stays on screen as the movie plays. The duration can be short (ie, don't stay on screen for long) or quite long (all the lines collecting across the movie).
There is no eraser. This is not a philosophical decision (!), I just haven't got to it yet. You can clear all.
Drawings can be loaded and saved via the buttons on this panel. The drawings are saved in a combination of xml and binary format, happy to help explain it in more detail if you'd like. one drawing / movie is included with the download so you can see what it does
Output Panel
Finally, we have implemented a very rudimentary system for exporting to video (which is the basis for the videos on this page). It's really quite slow, and we have found the best results are found in using divx 5.0.2 codec and making sure no other apps are running. We are working on a much faster movie export system. The system works like a toggle - you click the start button to begin recording and the end button when you would like to finish recording. Also, if you do not use a codec like divx, you may wind up with relatively large movie files (100+ mb).
Please enjoy it (!) and feedback, gripes, questions, comments, and hollas are always appreciated (zlieb parsons edu ).
Movie Panel
To use rotosketch you will need a movie (.mov, .mp4, or .avi), typically anywhere from 5 seconds to 2 minutes is a reasonably good length to start with. You begin by importing the video via the "load new movie" button.
You can control the speed that the video is playing (from -5x to 5x the normal speed). Three buttons allow you to set the speed to -1x, 0x, and 1x, respectively. Additionally, there is a playhead scrubber, so that you can scrub through the video clip. Finally, you can adjust the transparency of the video, in order to see more or less of the drawings you have made.
Drawing Panel
On the drawing panel, you can choose two properties to manipulate, the thickness of the line you are drawing and the duration that the line stays on screen as the movie plays. The duration can be short (ie, don't stay on screen for long) or quite long (all the lines collecting across the movie).
There is no eraser. This is not a philosophical decision (!), I just haven't got to it yet. You can clear all.
Drawings can be loaded and saved via the buttons on this panel. The drawings are saved in a combination of xml and binary format, happy to help explain it in more detail if you'd like. one drawing / movie is included with the download so you can see what it does
Output Panel
Finally, we have implemented a very rudimentary system for exporting to video (which is the basis for the videos on this page). It's really quite slow, and we have found the best results are found in using divx 5.0.2 codec and making sure no other apps are running. We are working on a much faster movie export system. The system works like a toggle - you click the start button to begin recording and the end button when you would like to finish recording. Also, if you do not use a codec like divx, you may wind up with relatively large movie files (100+ mb).
Please enjoy it (!) and feedback, gripes, questions, comments, and hollas are always appreciated (zlieb parsons edu ).
